Another Boston cop sentenced in overtime scandal, gets six months of home confinement

James Carnes, 61, of Canton, was sentenced this week to six months of home confinement, followed by 18 months of probation for his participation in an overtime-fraud scheme at the Boston Police evidence warehouse in Hyde Park that netted him a little over $20,000 in unearned pay over 2 1/2 years, the US Attorney's office reports.

US District Court Judge Nathaniel Gorton also ordered the former BPD officer to pay $20,106 in restitution and a $5,000 fine. In April 2021, Carnes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit theft concerning programs receiving federal funds and one count of embezzlement from an agency receiving federal funds.

Earlier this week, another got six months in prison for her role in the scandal - she instructed new officers at the warehouse how to participate and testified against the government in yet another officer's trial. Last week, a former sergeant at the warehouse was sentenced to six months of home confinement. Last month, former union president Thomas Nee got two months probation for bogus overtime at the warehouse.

According to the US Attorney's office:

Between July 2016 and February 2019, Carnes submitted false and fraudulent overtime slips for overtime hours that he did not work for two overtime shifts at the evidence warehouse. The first, called “purge” overtime, was a 4-8 p.m. weekday shift intended to dispose of old, unneeded evidence. The second shift, called “kiosk” overtime, involved driving to each police district in Boston one Saturday a month to collect old prescription drugs to be burned.

For the “purge” shift, Carnes claimed to have worked from 4 – 8 p.m., but he routinely left at 6 p.m., or before. For the kiosk shift, Carnes submitted overtime slips claiming to have worked eight-and-one-half hours, but he only worked three-to-four hours of those shifts.

The feds began arresting warehouse officers in September, 2020.